Henrikh Mkhitaryan

Pyunik

Mkhitaryan joined the FC Pyunik youth system in 1995 and received his first salary at the age of 15. He was later promoted to the first team of FC Pyunik, making his professional debut in 2006 at the age of 17. He last played for the club in the 2009 season. During that season he scored 11 league goals in 10 league games. In his four seasons in the Pyunik first team, they won the Armenian Premier League on four occasions (2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009). They also won the Armenian Supercup twice (2007 and 2009) and the Armenian Cup once (2009). Armenia national football team and Pyunik head coach Vardan Minasyan admitted that he would love to see his star player "playing in a stronger league." Minasyan stated young Henrikh was well on his way to becoming a legend in his own right. He said of Mkhitaryan, "He can win games on his own. He seizes control at the crucial moment and scores for fun." Due to his success in the 2009 Armenian Premier League at FC Pyunik, he joined Ukrainian Premier League club Metalurh Donetsk.

Metalurh Donetsk

Mkhitaryan joined Metalurh Donetsk in 2009. He scored a goal on his debut in a 3–0 victory against Belarusian Premier League side FC Partizan Minsk, in the Europa League on 16 July 2009. On 19 July 2009, he made his league debut in a 0–0 draw with Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk. His first league goal came in a 2–2 draw with Karpaty Lviv on 26 July 2009. On 6 August 2009, he scored the first goal in a 3–0 second leg Europa League win…

Mkhitaryan debuted for the Armenia national team in an away friendly match against Panama on 14 January 2007. He scored six goals for Armenia in UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying Group B, thus becoming top goalscorer in that group. Although Armenia did not advance past the qualifying stage for UEFA Euro 2012, Mkhitaryan's performances landed him in the UEFA Euro 2012 Qualifying Dream Team with six goals. On 10 September 2013, in the absence of regular skipper goalkeeper Roman Berezovsky, Mkhitaryan captained his country for the first time, as they lost 0–1 at home to Denmark in World Cup qualification. He became the top scorer in the history of the Armenia national team, after scoring his 12th goal for the national team in a 3–1 defeat to Italy in another qualifier on 15 October. This surpassed the 11 scored for the nation by Artur Petrosyan. On 27 May 2014, he scored twice in a 4–3 friendly win against the United Arab Emirates at the Stade de la Fontenette in Carouge, Switzerland. Two years and a day later, he scored Armenia's first international hat-trick in a 7–1 friendly win over Guatemala in Los Angeles. In March 2022, Mkhitaryan announced his international retirement.

Mkhitaryan is an attacking midfielder, who is also capable of playing as a second striker or as a winger. He excels playing in a central role, just behind the strikers, where he often looks to link up with his teammates in and around the penalty area. He is known for his ability to draw away opposing defenders and, in turn, create space for his teammates to exploit, leading to goal scoring opportunities, courtesy of his offensive movement, technique, and vision. Mkhitaryan has also been praised for his precise passing, dribbling ability, creativity, ball control and work rate, as well as his eye for the final pass; his skill and trickery on the ball enables him to beat defenders in one on one situations. Furthermore, he possesses an accurate shot. Tom Jones, who was caretaker of Armenian national team when Mkhitaryan began playing in 2007, praised him in 2011 as "definitely good enough to play in the Premier League. He is very creative, gets his fair share of goals and is also extremely hard-working and has a great attitude." During the 2012–13 season, former Scottish footballer Pat Nevin said of Mkhitaryan, "Eleven goals in eight league matches already is fantastic, but when you add that he is a midfielder, it is phenomenal. You may not have heard of him yet, even if all the scouts at the top European clubs have, but you soon will. He has pace, skill, a rocket of a shot and the ability to arrive in the box like Frank Lampard. This all singles him out as a player who must be…

Mkhitaryan was born on 21 January 1989 in the Soviet Armenian capital city of Yerevan to Marina Taschyan and Hamlet Mkhitaryan. His father was a prominent striker for FC Ararat Yerevan during the 1980s, who died of a brain tumor at age 33 when Henrikh was seven years old. His mother was half Armenian and half Russian from Moscow. The death of his father impacted Mkhitaryan significantly. He feels that if his father was still alive that "everything would be different." He gave him useful advice from a professional point of view. People who have watched Mkhitaryan and his father, say that their styles resemble each other very much. He has said, "I believe he sees me and is proud of me..." His mother is the head of the national teams department in the Armenian Football Federation and his elder sister, Monika, works at UEFA's headquarters. At the beginning of the 1990s, the Mkhitaryan family moved to France, where Hamlet Mkhitaryan played for the now defunct ASOA Valence and helped them to be promoted to the second division. Mkhitaryan spent his early childhood in Valence. He always wanted to become a football player and began to follow in his father's footsteps. As a child, he would watch his father play and always wanted to follow him to training. The Mkhitaryans returned to Yerevan in 1995. In the same year, Mkhitaryan joined the youth system of FC Pyunik. He graduated from the Institute of Physical Culture in Armenia. He studied economics at the Yerevan branch of the St.…